Scent of the City: New Bond No. 9 fragrance looks to the sweet smells of the great urban outdoors

New fragrance looks to the great urban outdoors

For a while now, Bond No. 9 has looked to New York's park system for its distinctive line of fragrances. Its Fifth Avenue scent celebrated Central Park's eastern edge while the Central Park West fragrance evoked images of the west side of the mammoth park.

Now, the fragrance maker has introduced Central Park South, the third of Bond's No. 9 Central Park series. The new fragrance, which combines grapefruit flower with a hint of green ivy, jasmine, and vibrant jonquil to create a scent that is reminiscent of early spring bloom in Central Park, recently debuted at Saks Fifth AvenueHouston.

Maybe they're on to something. How about a Houston series featuring Hermann Park, Memorial Park and Discovery Green?

The brand's owner, Laurice Rahme, told the Wall Street Journal she has 58 scents for different neighborhoods in the city. While some Central Park observers associate the area with horse manure, Rahme said she comes up with fragrances from the symbolic feelings she gets in the neighborhoods she loves.

"Forget the horses," Rahme said. "It's very grand."

The distinctive Central Park South bottle, featuring a scattering of fuchsia blossoms superimposed on a white background, echoes the previous fragrance bottles in the collection, rendered in pink on the Central Park West bottle and in green on Madison Square Park.

The fragrance retails for $260 for a 100-milliliter bottle; a glittery bottle dotted with Swarovski crystals, $390, adds a touch of glamour.